"The World Is Shrinking": Motivation
"The World Is Shrinking": Motivation
"The World Is Shrinking": Motivation
Santiago City
MODULE The Contemporary World
1 Prepared by: KATHLEEN MAE T. GALESTRE
Introduction to the
Study of
Introduction “The World is shrinking”
Globalization When someone utters the idiom: “The world is shrinking”, does it mean the
world is literally getting smaller every single day?
The concept of “a shrinking world” actually describes our global conditions. As
Learning Outcomes: argued by Coronacion & Calilung (2018), the “shrinking of the world” has taken
At the end of this module, place because of the combination of human feats including modern
you should be able to: transportation, information and communication technology, medical
advancement, and technological innovations.
1. apply the competing People of today’s world scoff at stories of the previous generations that
conceptions and paradigms moving from one place to another usually required walking several miles thus,
of globalization; require unusual effort to get to one’s place of destination. Such discomforts
2. examine the core claims of related to traveling have disappeared in the modern era. Nowadays, you can
globalization through cases; arrive at any destination in a less amount of time through various means of
transport. Such advancement is further accompanied by the availability of
3. elucidate the repercussions
computers, gadgets, and mobile phones together with the internet, which has
brought about by various
misconceptions on placed the world at our fingertips. In effect, the world appears smaller today than
globalization; it actually is for we have everything we need within a touch button.
This module is largely devoted to establishing firmly the concept of
4. analyze how globalization
globalization. It encompasses the phenomenon and practice associated with the
becomes a boon and a bane
concept of globalization which is crucial in grasping the related concepts, topics,
in the contemporary world;
and and principles which will be discussed in the succeeding modules.
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What is
Globalization?
Content
Definition is not everything, but everything involves definition.
Knowledge of globalization is substantially a function of how the world is
defined. The dissection of globalization must include a careful and critical
examination of the term itself. As claimed by Scholte (2007):
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APPADURAI’S MAIN ARGUMENT: “There are MULTIPLE GLOBALIZATIONS”. Hence, even If one does not agree
that globalization can be divided into five scapes, it is hard to deny Appadurai’s central thrust of viewing globalization
through various lenses. Depending on what is being globalized, a different dynamic (or dynamics) may emerge. So, while
it is important to ask “what is globalization?” it is likewise important to ask “what is/are being globalized?” Depending on
what is being globalized, the vista and conclusions change. (Ibid.p.10)
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Globalization as
a process,
In the absence of a generally accepted definition, Steger (2005)
condition, and
explains that globalization has been commonly understood either as a
ideology process, a condition, or an ideology.
Silk Road, also called Silk Route, was an ancient trade route, linking China with the West, that carried goods and
ideas between the two great civilizations of Rome and China. Silk went westward, and wools, gold, and silver went east.
Originating at Xi’an (Sian), the 4,000-mile (6,400-km) road, actually a caravan track, followed the Great Wall of China to the
northwest, bypassed the Takla Makan Desert, climbed the Pamirs (mountains), crossed Afghanistan, and went on to
the Levant; from there the merchandise was shipped across the Mediterranean Sea. Few persons traveled the entire route,
and goods were handled in a staggered progression by middlemen. (Britannica Encyclopedia, Inc., 2020)
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Globalization as an Ideology. Steger (2005) explains that globalization exists in people’s consciousness
because it consists of a set of coherent and complementary ideas and beliefs system that benefits a certain class. He
argues that globalization as an ideology is defined by six (6) core claims.
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The first core claim also argues that globalization is about the “triumph of markets over governments”. This
means that the “liberation” of markets from state control is a good thing. As Joan Spiro, US Undersecretary of State
for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs under Clinton administration, put it, “One role [of government] is
to get out of the way—to remove barriers to the free flow of goods, services, and capital”. (Steger, 2005, p. 18)
2. Globalization is inevitable and irreversible. The second core claim explains that “globalization” turns on the
adjacent concept “historical inevitability”. In the last decade, the public discourse on globalization describing its
projected path was saturated with adjectives like “irresistible”, “inevitable”, “inexorable”’, and “irreversible”.
Meaning, globalization is happening and cannot be stopped, as it has always been a global wave sweeping the
world.
For example, in a major speech on U.S. foreign policy, President Bill Clinton told his audience: “Today we must
embrace the inexorable logic of globalization . . . Globalization is irreversible”.
Frederick W. Smith, chairman, and CEO of FedEx Corporation proclaimed that “Globalization is inevitable and
inexorable and it is accelerating . . . Globalization is happening, it’s going to happen. It does not matter whether you
like it or not, it’s happening, it’s going to happen”.
Social elites in the global South often faithfully echoed the determinist language of globalization. For example,
Manuel Villar, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, insisted that “We cannot simply
wish away the process of globalization. It is a reality of a modern world. The process is irreversible.”
3. Nobody is in charge of globalization. The third core claim explains that globalists are not “in charge” in the
sense of imposing their political agenda on people. Rather, they merely carry out the unalterable imperatives of a
transcendental force much larger than narrow partisan interests. For example, Robert Hormats, Vice-chairman of
Goldman Sachs International, emphasized that “The great beauty of globalization is that no one is in control. The
great beauty of globalization is that it is not controlled by any individual, any government, any institution”. Likewise,
Thomas Friedman alleged that “the most basic truth about globalization is this: No one is in charge . . . We all want
to believe that someone is in charge and responsible but the global marketplace today is an Electronic Herd of often
anonymous stock, bond, and currency traders and multinational investors, connected by screens and networks”.
4. Globalization benefits everyone in the long run. The fourth core claim lies at the heart of globalism because
it provides an affirmative answer to the crucial normative question of whether globalization represents a “good”
phenomenon. The adjacent idea of “benefits for everyone”’ is usually unpacked in material terms such as “economic
growth” and “prosperity”. However, when linked to globalism’s peripheral concept, ‘progress’, the idea of ‘benefits
for everyone’ taps not only into liberalism’s progressive worldview but also draws on the powerful socialist vision of
establishing an “economic paradise on earth”—albeit in the capitalist form of a worldwide consumerist utopia.
At the 1996 G-7 Summit, the heads of state and government of the world’s seven most powerful
industrialized nations issued a joint communique that exemplifies the principal meanings of globalization
conveyed in Charge Four:
Economic growth and progress in today’s interdependent world are bound up with the process of globalization. Globalization
provides great opportunities for the future, not only for our countries but for all others too. Its many positive aspects include an
unprecedented expansion of investment and trade; the opening up to international trade of the world’s most populous regions and
opportunities for more developing countries to improve their standards of living; the increasingly rapid dissemination of information,
technological innovation, and the proliferation of skilled jobs. These characteristics of globalization have led to a considerable expansion
of wealth and prosperity in the world. Hence, we are convinced that the process of globalization is a source of hope for the future.”
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5. Globalization furthers the spread of democracy. The fifth core claim links “globalization” and “market” to
the adjacent concept of “democracy”.
Francis Fukuyama, for example, asserts that there exists a “clear correlation” between a country’s level of
economic development and successful democracy. While globalization and capital development do not
automatically produce democracies, “the level of economic development resulting from globalization is
conducive to the creation of complex civil societies with a powerful middle class”. It is this class and societal
structure that facilitates democracy. Praising Eastern Europe’s economic transition towards capitalism, then First
Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton told her Polish audience that the emergence of new businesses and shopping centers
in former communist countries should be seen as the “backbone of democracy”.
6. Globalization requires a global war on terror. This belief, which resulted from the 9-11 attack, combines
the idea of economic globalization with the American brand of right-wing foreign policy (openly militaristic and
nationalistic). Prior to 9-11 attack, the economic globalization dominated by the core states in Western Europe,
the United States, and Japan defined the world order, which was openly challenged during the 9-11 attack by the
global network of terror led by Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.
Globalization scholars think then that the ensuing aggressive, militaristic US foreign policy is a response to
protect the gains of globalization.
TOPIC 3
phenomenon of globalization. The subsequent discussion will attempt to cover
the major theoretical paradigms that serve the function lens that we can use in
order to get a clear view of globalization.
Theoretical Paradigms
associated to 1. World Systems Paradigm- Immanuel Wallerstein, the principal
Globalization proponent of the theory, views globalization not as a recent phenomenon but as
virtually synonymous with the birth and spread of world capitalism, c. 1500. For him,
the appropriate unit of analysis for macro-social inquiry in the modern world is
neither class, nor state/society, or country, but the larger historical system, in which
these categories are located.
This paradigm adheres to the idea that capitalism has created a global
enterprise that swept the 19th century leading to the present time. That is why the
followers of this paradigm argue that globalization is not at all a new process but
something that is just continuing and evolving.
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2. Global Capitalism Paradigm- The theories under this school of thought treat globalization as a novel
stage in the evolving system of world capitalism (hence, theorists of this paradigm tend to speak of capitalist
globalization). As such, globalization has unique features that distinguish it from earlier epochs. This paradigm
is focused on new global production and financial system; both are seen to have superseded earlier national forms
of capitalism. They also emphasize the rise of phenomena, which espoused the transnational practices as
operational categories for the analysis of transnational phenomena. This theory emphasized that Transnational
Capitalist Class (TCC) has emerged as a new class that brings together several social groups that see their
interests in an expanding global capitalist system: the executives of transnational corporations; globalizing
bureaucrats, politicians, and professionals’, and consumerist elites in the media and the commercial sector. (Sklair,
2000)
3. The Network Society School of Thought- In its simplest explanation, this paradigm of globalization
does not subscribe to the contention that capitalism fuels globalization. Instead, it puts forth the premise that
technology and technological change are the underlying causes of the several processes that comprise
globalization. In fact, this idea is articulated in the important collection of works of Manuel Castells called The
Rise of the Network Society (1996, 1997, 1998), which features his technologist approach to globalization. He
advanced the notion of the new economy. This new economy is: (1) informational, knowledge-based; (2) global,
in that production is organized on a global scale; and (3) networked, in that productivity is generated through
global networks of interaction. In Castell’s view, the networked enterprise makes a material culture of the
informational, global economy: it transforms signals into commodities by processing knowledge (1996:88)
4. Space, Time and Globalization- For Anthony Giddens, the conceptual essence of globalization is “time-
space distanciation”. Giddens defines time-space distanciation as the intensification of worldwide social relations
which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away
and vice versa- social relations are lifted out from local contexts of interaction and restructured across time and
space (1990;64). In a distinct variant of this Spatio-temporal theme, David Harvey, in his now classic 1990 study:
“The Condition of Post-modernity”, argues that globalization represents a new burst of time-space compression
produced by the very dynamics of capitalism development.
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6. Global Culture Paradigm- The theorists of this paradigm emphasize the rapid growth of the mass media
and resultant global cultural flows and images in recent decades, evoking the image famously put forth by
Marshall McLuhan of the global collage. Cultural theories of globalization have focused on such phenomena as
globalization and religion, nations and ethnicity, global consumerism, global communications, and the
globalization of tourism. For instance, Ritzer (1993, 2002) coined the now popularized term “McDonaldization”
to describe the socio-cultural processes by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant came to dominate
more and more sectors of US and later world society. Ritzer, in this particular homogenization approach,
suggests that Weber’s process of rationalization became epitomized in the late 20 th century in the organization
of McDonald’s restaurants along seemingly efficient, predictable, and standard lines- instrumental rationality
(the most efficient means to a given end) - yet results in an ever deeper substantive irrationality, such as
alienation, waste, low nutritional value and the risk of health problems, and so forth.
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Misconceptions
about Scholte (2008), in his attempt to clarify the meaning of
globalization, criticizes the several flawed analyses of globalization
globalization pointing out that they fail to produce new knowledge. In other words, he
defines globalization by telling us what it is NOT.
Globalization as Internationalization
Although internationalization and globalization are used interchangeably, there is a big difference in their
meanings.
GLOBALIZATION- includes a gamut of human activities that do not require reference to a state’s national borders.
For instance, exchanges of romantic words in a social media platform such as Facebook between a Filipina located
in the Philippines and a German residing in his country fall within globalization as they do not need their respective
government’s permission to do so. Globalization is broader in scope than internationalization as the former is not limited
to the activities that are subject to the government’s consent.
Globalization as Liberalization
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Bana Alabed was just three- years old when the war started in Syria.
She was living in Aleppo with her family when bombs started to drop
around her. She says the worst moment for her is remembering when
her bestfriend Yasmin died after an air attack in their neighborhood.
“They were digging and they held a body and it was Yasmin. She was like
sleeping, but she wasn’t. She’s dead.”
It was during the siege that Bana, with the help of her mom
Fatemah, started sending messages out, on social media.
My name is Bana, I’m 7 years old. I am talking to the world now live from East #Aleppo. This is my last
moment to either live or die- Bana 5:06 PM- Dec 13, 2016
I am very afraid I will die tonight. These bombs will kill me now- Bana #Aleppo 1:00 AM-Oct 3, 2016)
Alabed’s posts helped bring out the seemingly intractable civil war into the perspective of a
Bana Alabed child. It was December of 2016 when Alabed was able to leave Aleppo during the ceasefire. She
@AlabedBana remembers the moment when they finally got to eat something other than rice and macaroni.
“It is the first time I ate chicken and I have a stomach ache and I vomit because I ate fruit and chicken and bread. And I feel
happy very much” says Alabed.
Now Alabed lives in Turkey with her mom, dad, and two younger brothers. She’s back at school and wants to be a
teacher. She still misses Syria and hopes to go home one day.
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Task 1
topics in this module, accompanied with a background of Alabed’s case on
the context of the environment she was situated in, address the succeeding
questions coherently and substantially. In accomplishing the task, USE THE
PROVIDED ANSWER SHEET.
1. Due to various definitions of globalization, there is the absence of a generally accepted definition to elucidate its
concept. In response, Steger (2005) posited that globalization has been commonly understood either as a process;
a condition; or an ideology. Linking this to Bana Alabed’s case, what concept of globalization do you think was
exhibited? Provide justifications.
2. In your perception, what globalization paradigm can best explain the power of social media in awaking and moving
people from around the world to the harsh conditions in Syria? Explicate your answer.
3. If the same technology brought by Globalization was available during the height of WW1 and WW2, what are your
assertions as to the situations that could have happened or could have transpired during that time? Give at least
two (2) assertions.
4. From the assertions you have provided in number three, choose at least one (1) and classify it according to the
intersecting dimensions of integration in globalization which termed by Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai as
“scapes” (ethnoscape; mediascape; technoscape; financescape; and ideoscape).
A.
DIRECTIONS: Below are various scenarios manifesting the different core claims of
Task 2
Globalization. Examine each scenario and identify appropriately the manifested claim with
corresponding justifications. USE THE PROVIDED ANSWER SHEET.
1. Country “X”, a third-world country started to attract foreign investors by reducing high tariff
rates that discourage potential investors outside the country.
2. Country “M”, a third-world country, took a necessary step to transform its economy by adopting
a certain policy that demands financial austerity (i.e., spending cuts, increased tax rate). The
implementation of the said policy in the first few months did not gain support from the citizens
as the promised “development” was not felt. However, after five years, the said country was able
to dramatically change its economy and the citizens began to reap from the economic policy they
initially perceived to be ineffective.
3. Country “XX” has been an economic tiger for decades. While many underdeveloped countries continue to seek an alliance
with said country, various left-wing groups within such underdeveloped countries remain dissatisfied with their economy.
This consequently led the latter to instigate a massive attack against Country “XX” branding it as an abusive state which
must be checked.
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Synthesis
In this module, you have learned that Globalization is a multifaceted
phenomenon as it involves varied definitions, concepts, and paradigms
positing about its nature. Out of your major takeaways from this module,
create your own definition of “GLOBALIZATION” and identify the paradigm
that could best explain your concept. USE THE PROVIDED ANSWER
SHEET.
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Self-made Rubric
Below is a Critical Thinking Rubric which will be used in evaluating your Task no. 2 (A) and your Synthesis. Study
the rubric below for you to be guided in accomplishing the said task/activity.
COMPONENT Component Fully Met Component Met Component Slightly Component Not Met
4pts 3pts Met 1pt
2pts
Consistency of the All the provided Most of the provided Only a few of the All the provided
provided answers answers consistently answers consistently provided answers answers were
to the concepts portray the concepts portray the concepts; portray the concepts; inconsistent in
tackled [40%] with minimal entailing many portraying the
inconsistencies inconsistencies concepts
Logically justify Justifications are logical Justifications are logically Justifications are Justifications are
answers and and reflect student’s tied to a range of logically tied to minimal inconsistently tied to
thoroughly informed evaluation and information, including information and some some of the
discuss the ability to place evidence opposing viewpoints; related implications are information discussed;
implications [40%] and perspectives related implications are not identified clearly. related implications
discussed in priority identified clearly. are oversimplified.
order.
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Below is the rubric to be used in evaluating your reflection activity. Study the provided rubric for you to be guided
in accomplishing the said activity.
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References:
Textbook:
Journal:
Website:
Critical Review Grading Rubric. (2019). Retrieved June 28, 2020, from
https://www.cs.toronto.edu/~lczhang/csc290_20191/files/cr_rubric.pdf
Rubric for Student Reflections. (2014). Retrieved July 1, 2020, from http://earlycollegeconference.org/wp-
content/uploads/2014/12/Portfolio-Rubric-for-Reflection.PRINT_.pdf)
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